


Winter Warmth

by Loony_Kit



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Obligatory bed sharing fic, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-War, Protective Bucky Barnes, Sharing Body Heat, could be seen as established relationship, grumpy steve, winter night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 16:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2395433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loony_Kit/pseuds/Loony_Kit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically: Bucky wraps Steve in every blanket they own while Steve tries to maintain his manly dignity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this has only been pre-read; un-beta-ed. We had scheduling issues unfortunately. The mistakes should be small if they are there.. If you spot them, please tell me. :}
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. I try to respond to all comments.

Steve groaned as Bucky dropped another arm full of blankets right on top of him. It was supposed to be the first really freezing night of the year and though Bucky hadn’t mentioned it all day, Steve knew he was going to have company that night. Bucky always weaseled his way into bedding up with him during the harshest time of the season. Their radiator wasn't what you could call reliable. Steve had managed to make it through September without a single sniffle and Bucky seemed hell bound to keep it that way.

 

Bucky gave Steve a smartass grin, then ambled off in his flannel night pants and socks to retrieve more sheets from the hallway closet. Steve knew every scrap of bedding they owned would end up piled on to Steve's barely big enough bed. Bucky came back round the corner with three sets of flat sheets pinned against his hip and a towel clutched in his other hand.

 

"Every blanket in the place not good enough for you, you're going to raid the bathroom cabinet too?"

 

"Nah Rodgers, you caught me. I've been a bed wetter my whole life. Oh the shame." Barnes called in a flat dramatic fashion as he chucked the towel in his hand at Steve's face.

 

"That's not funny Bucky, there are people who really do have that problem." Steve said in a clipped tone as he whipped the towel off his face and allowed it to dangle in his hand off the edge of the bed.

 

"Well aren't you just in a fine mood tonight... What's stuck in your craw?" Bucky said as he shoved the pile off of to the side and stripped back the quilt Steve already had draped over his curled up form. Steve tried to hide his shiver, but it wracked his bones before he could steel himself. Bucky then started plucking up blankets and sheets from the pile to lay them down in precise layers.

 

"You don't have to stay the night with me, I won't drop dead." Steve said, a note of bitterness staining his tone. He knew that wasn't entirely true, the radiator could crap out in the dead of night and the cold could trigger an asthma attack and he'd be dead before he could wake up enough to train his breathing. Or he could just flat out freeze, seeing he was hardly 100 lbs.

 

Steve tried to subtlety scoot forward on his bed to take up as much room as his lanky frame would allow in order to make it clear Bucky wasn't welcome.

 

"Can't a guy just want some company for the night? Not everything is about you, Steve." Bucky said cocking an eyebrow but not quite meeting Steve's gaze.

 

"Really, Buck I can handle being alone in my own bed."

 

"How do you know I'm not the one who doesn't want to get cold?"

 

"I never said anything about the cold..." Steve said pointedly.

 

"You must be mistaken Stevie..." Bucky lied shamelessly, he then reached forward after he'd laid down the last of the 12 layers of bedding, slipped his hands under Steve's weight and pulled him forward, away from the window. Steve yelped in surprise. Bucky grinned, tucking the first two sheets under the mattress for good measure then clambered over Steve into the space now freed up against the wall. Steve was shocked when Bucky took up the towel still clutched in Steve's hand and pulled open the window.

 

"The hell you doing!? It's freezing out there." Steve shrieked as he pulled Bucky's meticulously constructed mountain of blankets tighter to himself.

 

"Thought you said you weren't cold?" Bucky mocked as he carefully laid one edge of the towel on the window sill and pulled the window shut again on it. His t-shirt strained against the muscles in his back as Bucky let his bottom half go slack so he could use his weight and gravity to force the window down on the thick material and locked it tight.

 

Satisfied that the towel was secure he proceeded to take up the other end and methodically started to roll up the edge like a jelly roll. Steve watched him with a skeptical frown.

"What? I don't like drafts." Bucky said defensively as he finished pressing the towel roll into what remained of the crack between window and sill. Bucky turned back and started to settle down. He reached for one of the sheets he left out of the mound he piled on top of Steve. He folded back the layers till he found the mattress and nestled into place he unfurled the loose sheet over top of himself then pulled the pile of quilts and sheets back over top of himself.

 

Steve could hear the radiator churning and clunking ominously as Bucky settled nearly a foot away from him. The distance was unusual. Bucky had no qualms about being close, he all ways ended up a giant mess of limbs thrown over his bedmate. Steve knew his attitude was the cause of his friend's stand-off-ish-ness and he was letting it go to his head, but he wasn't in the mood to care.

 

"Just stay on your side..." Steve grumbled tugging the masterpiece of a pile further up his shoulder.

 

"Such a bad mood." Bucky teased as he reached over and grabbed a fist full of the hair on the back of Steve's head and gave it a firm but fond shake. Steve usually would’ve horseplayed back - turning over to give Bucky a good kick to the nearest body part he could reach, happy to not be treated like a porcelain doll - but given Bucky's current coddling he wasn't going to play along.

 

Steve pulled his head free of Bucky's hand. He was glad Bucky was wary enough to not scoot up as close as he normally would. Bucky reluctantly took his hand back as an uncomfortable stillness fell between them. After a long moment Bucky broke the silence.

 

"It's just... I'm trying, Steve." He said quietly.

 

"I know Buck, but you can't protect me from everything."

 

"..." "Buck?" Steve glanced over his shoulder at his bedmate. Bucky's eyes weren't looking in his direction, in fact they weren't focused on anything in particular. This gaze was turned inward, something dark moved behind those blue eyes of his.

 

"I can try..." Bucky finally said. His usual charmer grin slid right back into place, but it didn't warm his eyes. He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over Steve's side to switch off the lamp then settled back into his distant self-appointed spot. It was only a foot, but it felt like miles.

 

Steve’s eye adjusted slowly to the dark, so his hearing seem to kick into over drive. Most of the time he couldn’t Bucky call him from the next room, but the mellow in and out of Bucky’s breaths was crystal clear and made it obvious he had drifted off already. The building was a hive of noise that he almost never noticed; creaking, cracking, thumps, bumps and knocks. He could hear their older neighbor still shuffling around next door and the kids up stairs pattering back and forth through the ceiling. He could hear the radiator still churning away faithfully but a sudden a loud clunk and a hiss. Oh shit…

 

Steve knew two seconds wasn’t long enough for the room to get cold, but he shivered. He pulled his blankets even closer, he needed to get to sleep before the temperature plummeted. With Bucky adding his own heat to the bed Steve he wasn’t going to literally freeze, but he knew it would make it difficult for him to get to sleep. However the harder he tried to sleep the faster the hands on the alarm clock seemed to move. The longer time went by, the more Steve couldn’t dismiss the fact that the room was actually starting to get cold now, it wasn’t just his anticipatory imagination. The tremulous shivers were a sheer testament to that. It also didn’t help that Bucky’s tranquil form, laying not too far away, seemed to just be radiating heat. He could practically feel it tapping him on the shoulder, inviting him to come closer.

 

Steve wanted to be greedy, he wanted scoot back all the way up against Bucky. He knew Bucky wouldn’t reject him even though he probably deserved it. He wanted to be wrapped in that warmth like he normally would have been, but no, he made his choice and he could never let himself take more than he was given. Especially after he had been so adamant that he didn't need it. His pride would never allow it. So Steve Rodgers, cold and lonely, drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

 

\--------

 

When Steve awoke the next morning he was facing the window. It took him a minute or two of watching the light snow that the forecast had promised drift past their window sill for him to realize he had moved from his original position. Steve’s chin had found its way into the crook of Bucky’s neck, his arms were pulled in so they were trapped between their chests. Had he really been so cold that his subconscious sought out heat after he fell asleep? Oh well, might as well enjoy it before Bucky wakes up to the knowledge that he was right.

 

The gentle thump of Bucky’s heart beat was lulling, Steve had almost drifted back off when Bucky quietly roused. Relaxing his arms around Steve to stretch like an old tom cat dozing in the sun. His joins popped and his muscles strained deliciously before Barnes sighed into his pillow and quickly gathered Steve up into his chest once again.

 

“Good morning Buck.” Steve said, slightly ashamed of his grumpiness from the previous night. Steve craned his neck slightly so he could see Bucky’s eyes- well, eye -most of his face was pressed into his pillow.

 

“Morning.” Bucky responded, perfectly content.

 

“Sorry if I woke you up when I rolled over last night.”

 

“Nah…” Bucky yawned “I pulled you closer. It’s just easier to pretend to be asleep and wait; you put up less of a fight when you’re unconscious.” Steve snorted.

 

“At least I put up some sort of a fight, unlike this dead log over here.” Steve said ruefully knocking his head backwards into Bucky’s, grinding his temple into the brunette’s eye, affectionately rough.

 

“Damn brat!” Bucky growled as he tightened his grip around Steve and chomped down on his shoulder.

 

“Look who’s talking Barnes…” Steve huffed as he squirmed and managed to pull one of his arms loose and elbowed him in the neck, Bucky let go of his shoulder but his hold around Steve only tightened. He wasn’t letting go. It was alright though, Steve was pretty sure the radiator hadn’t come back on yet judging from the sting of exposing his thoroughly warmed limb to the external air. He had no intentions of getting up and neither, would it seem, did Bucky, who had allowed his eyes to drift shut again once Steve had finished scrambling back into the warmth of the blankets. Thank god it was Saturday and they had nowhere in particular to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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